A/N: I am sorry to all my Captain Swan followers that are expecting a CS piece, but Finn is the rare exception of Pure Cinnamon Roll that I adore, so I needed to get this out of my system. I might write more, I just can't get over him and Rey (And TFA in general).
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, just borrowing Finn.
As Finn walks through the seemingly endless desert, he drops one piece of armor after another in the scorched sand, feeling like he is also leaving parts of his identity behind. Finn knew he was abandoning his taught goal the moment he dragged Poe Dameron in that crevice, felt it become even more real as he shot at fellow - not anymore - Stormtroopers, but now…Now wind is burying everything he ever has been in the sand. All he has is a name and jacket of the man who gave it to him, before being swallowed by the desert. Still, Finn keeps going, even though there is no purpose to him anymore.
That is, until he meets her. She's as fierce as the unforgiving sun above and just as brilliant. When she looks at him and sees a person, maybe even a hero, Finn feels as if he could become one. Yet because of him and that BB-8 unit, she is dragged into mess much bigger than them. There's no time for feeling guilty, though, and instinctively, he takes her hand as they run away, chased by people that used to be his. And through that touch, Finn is given back something he thought he had lost.
He doesn't realize it yet, he will not for a while more - not until he sees X-wings shooting overhead as he is about to leave Takodana, hoping Rey's with the right people and on the right path - something he thinks he has not yet found for himself. And even then, there is no time to dwell on the thought, his mind filled with Rey, not discovery of what's been his purpose all along.
Finn might have been raised to do just one thing - fight -, but for him, the goal has always been defending and the battle merely means to an end. At first he defended his fellow Stormtroopers and Slip in particular, then for the briefest moment Poe Dameron, whom he feels he failed. And now he has someone to protect again - not because Rey needs it, she's more than capable of defending herself from most foes, but because he needs to know she is safe and well, more than he has ever needed anything. And if he has to give his life to ensure she can keep hers…Well, it's a price he finds himself willing to pay.